The final Quinnipiac University poll before the election showed Gov. Dannel P. Malloy leading Republican challenger Tom Foley by 3 percentage points in a race that is too close to call.

The survey, released Monday, does not include petitioning candidate Joseph Visconti of West Hartford and shows that 7 percent of those surveyed are still undecided heading into the final hours before Tuesday's election. In addition, 11 percent of voters said they might change their minds.

The poll was almost finished when Visconti announced late Sunday morning in Brookfield that he was getting out of the race and endorsing Foley. Schwartz had anticipated a possible dropout by Visconti and thus asked Visconti voters for their second choice in the race. With that calculation, Malloy was up by 47 percent to 44 percent.

The survey of likely voters, taken starting Oct. 28 and ending on Sunday afternoon, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

"It's officially too close to call,'' Schwartz told The Courant. "With a three point race and a three point margin of error, definitely it's still too close to call - plus you've got the 7 percent that are undecided.''

Like previous polls, the survey showed a gender gap with Malloy leading by 15 points among women and Foley leading by 10 points among men. Independent voters are expected to play a key role, but that electorate is split with 45 percent for Foley and 44 percent for Malloy.

The poll also showed that both candidates are unpopular among some voters. Overall, 49 percent have an unfavorable view of Malloy, while 43 percent view him favorably. Foley is also viewed negatively with 44 percent unfavorable and 42 percent favorable.

Without qualifying for public financing, Visconti has been running his campaign with little money - and no television commercials to increase his name recognition. Among those polled, 75 percent said they still did not know enough about him to form an opinion. In early September, that number was 89 percent.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Republican challenger Tom Foley traveled across the state on Monday, the day before Election Day, to make a last-minute push to get their message out to voters.

A pro-Second Amendment candidate with support from some gun owners, Visconti had been under increasing pressure from Republican Party officials and grassroots Tea Party organizers to withdraw from the race and support Foley. Previous polls had shown that Visconti's support had been pulled from both Malloy and Foley, but Republicans believe that Visconti's withdrawal from the race would help Foley.

In the final Quinnipiac poll in the 2010 governor's race, Foley was ahead of Malloy by 3 percentage points, and Malloy won by less than 1 percentage point.

Multiple polls have shown a dead-heat within the margin of error. The candidates in recent days have been bringing high-profile supporters into the state, including First Lady Michelle Obama and President Obama for Malloy. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who serves as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, was traveling to Windsor Locks on Monday in his fifth visit to support Foley - following earlier appearances in Greenwich, Stamford, Trumbull, and Groton that date back to mid-July.

Under Christie, the RGA has spent $5.48 million on Foley's behalf as the single largest contributor to Grow Connecticut, Inc., a SuperPAC that opposes Malloy. The PAC has collected $7.57 million overall as of the latest public filings.

In the same way, the Democratic Governors Association is the largest single contributor at $3.5 million for Connecticut Forward, a SuperPAC that supports Malloy and opposes Foley. The overall fundraising total is $5.675 million, including $2 million from various national unions.

Malloy defeated Foley in 2010 after winning by huge margins in the cities, especially New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford. Foley won only 11 percent of the vote in Hartford in 2010 and has vowed to perform better this year. Foley won 128 of the state's 169 municipalities, but Malloy's total in the remaining 41 communities gave him the victory in the closest gubernatorial election in Connecticut in more than 50 years.